Tread-surface for footwear.



n SMITH.l TREAD lSURFACE FOR FOOTWEAR.

APPLICATION FILEU AUG-3| 1914.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

iwf/fesses .Wren/"0f ings RICHARD SMITH, 0F SHERBROOKE, QUEBEC, CANADA.

TREAD-SURFACE FOR FOOTWEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led August 3, 1914. Serial No. 854,713.

l To all 'whom t may concern.' y

Be it known that I,R1CHARD`SM1TH, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and resi# dent of the city of Sherbrooke, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tread-Surfaces for Footwear, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in soles and heels for footwear, and the object is to provide a simple and inexpensive antislipping device, which may be made an integral part of the footwear, or attached thereto at any time desired.

The device consists essentially of sheets of material which may be `attached to the soles and heels of footwear, or may be the soles and heels themselves, and a plurality of suction devices of iiexible material carried by the sheets.

In the drawings which illustrate the invention z-Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of a boot arranged accordin to thisA invention. Fi 2 is a section on the e 2--2, Fig. 1.

eferring more particularly to the draw- 11 designates the'sole' and 12 the heel of a boot, to each of which is attached a sheet 13 of suitable material, having circular flanges 14 of flexible material, such as rubber projecting from the surface thereof and forming a plurality of cups 15. When the wearer of theboot walks, the flanges iatten out with his weight, expelling the air from the cu s 15, so that a strong suction is produced tween the sole oft e boot and surface walked u on, which'holds the flanges 14 and sole an heel tightly against the surface, and eiectually prevents slippmg by reason of the frictional engagement. t is obvious that .the smoother and therefore more slippery the surface, the better will be the suction, so that a erson may walk easily even on wet ice, w 'ch is the most slippelll'y surface commonly met with.

he circular flanges forming the suction cups may be made in a number of ways, of

which only la few are here illustrated and described. The most obvious method is to cast the flanges integral with a sole piece, as shown in Fig. 2, or to insert plugs 16 in a punched sheet and secure the same by cementing, vulcanizing or other process. The sheet and plugs may be both of rubber of the same consistency, or the plugs may be softer than the sheet. The plugs may also be plain cylindrical, or provided with flanges 17 on the upper' end, so that if inserted in a leather sheet, entire dependence Patented Nov. 16,1915.

heel, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, or may be the actual sole and heel themselves.

It will thus be seen that the invention may be put into practice in a great variety of ways, according to the fancy of the user and that the same results may be roduce in many, ways not illustrated, whlch, how- Y ever, fall within the scope of the present invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is A. tread surface for footwear, complrlsm' a sheet -of material having a lura 'ty o tapering apertures therein, an serted in said apertures each .comprisin a tubular -member of resilient material, an 'a tapering core holding the same in the taper-` ing apertures. l

In witness whereof, I have hereunto s et my hand, Ain the precence of two witnesses.

ICHABD SMITH. Witnesses:

LILLIAN Hams, VIOLA Kuss.

plugs in- 

